


Where in the World is Agent Peggy Carter?

by machine_dove



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Because Peggy Carter is Better than Everybody, F/M, Gen, Howling Cameo, Peggy Carter is actually Carmen Sandiego, not quite crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-29
Updated: 2016-01-29
Packaged: 2018-05-17 00:49:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5847445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/machine_dove/pseuds/machine_dove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I’m sorry, I must not have heard you properly.  You want me to do what?”  Peggy blinked twice, the only outward indication of how badly her composure had slipped.</p>
<p>“Steal the Eiffel Tower, smuggle it out of France, and bring it here so I can study it.  Ideally without anybody noticing.”  Howard leaned back and propped his feet up on his desk, as if he hadn’t just asked for the impossible.</p>
<p>“The Eiffel Tower.  Just to be perfectly clear, you’re asking me to go to Paris, which is currently occupied by Nazi forces, steal the Eiffel Tower, and somehow do it without anybody noticing.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where in the World is Agent Peggy Carter?

**Author's Note:**

> This is set after Steve goes into Howard Stark's Beefcake Hottie Machine, but before the 107th is captured at Azzano. Some liberties have been taken with Actual Historical Content.

“I’m sorry, I must not have heard you properly.  You want me to do what?”  Peggy blinked twice, the only outward indication of how badly her composure had slipped.

“Steal the Eiffel Tower, smuggle it out of France, and bring it here so I can study it.  Ideally without anybody noticing.”  Howard leaned back and propped his feet up on his desk, as if he hadn’t just asked for the impossible.

“The Eiffel Tower.  Just to be perfectly clear, you’re asking me to go to Paris, which is currently occupied by Nazi forces, steal the Eiffel Tower, and somehow do it without anybody noticing.”

“Well, not the whole tower, that would be crazy.  Just the top bit.”

Peggy gave him a long, level look.  “Howard, are you drunk?”

“No!  Well, not anymore, but that has nothing to with this.  Besides, I have a plan.”

“This should be interesting.”

* * *

Sometimes, Peggy found herself regretting some of the choices she had made in her life, choices that had landed her here, trying to scale to the top of the tower in the pitch black night with experimental, repurposed, and barely-tested Hydra gear strapped to her back that would, in theory, reduce the transmitter at the top of the spire in both size and weight to something she could effectively transport across enemy lines without the need for heavy equipment.

The distraction that was keeping the German troops occupied had been arranged by a member of the French Resistance, who had seemed delighted by the opportunity.  She didn’t know the details, both because plausible deniability was useful in these situations, and also because the look of glee on his face when he heard what she needed was more than slightly terrifying.  

It seemed that her assessment of him had been correct, given the size of the explosion to the east.  The power outage alone might have been sufficient, but this would certainly make her job easier.  A second, even larger explosion farther south was really just overkill, but she had to admire his style.

This would be so much easier if the winds weren’t so high, but needs must and the timing on this op was entirely inflexible.  Making it up to the observation deck had been a simple enough matter despite the fact that the lift cables had been cut, but she needed to keep going, all the way to the top of the spire where the transmitter was located.

According to the documents they had decoded, Hydra forces were planning to use an artefact of unknown origins as a long-distance transmitter, capable of sending undetectable transmissions an incredible distance, transmissions that could not be intercepted.  The receivers weren’t in place yet, but once they were this had the potential to drastically change the course of the war in ways that did not favor the Allies.

Peggy looked up at the flagpole she still had to climb and frowned at the ostentatious and offensive flag flying there.  Getting this one down wasn’t, strictly speaking, a part of her mission, but sometimes one had to take one’s pleasures where one could when in the midst of a war.

She sliced the halyard with glee, watching as the wind whipped the flag away.  “Good riddance,” she said as she turned to the next stage of her task.

Scaling the flagpole itself wouldn’t be too difficult with the climbing gear Stark had provided, but it brought to mind another flagpole, and the man who had conquered it with his cleverness instead of brute strength, but Steve was too much of a distraction to linger on when she still had a mission to complete, no matter how delightful a distraction he might be.

Ensuring that the harness she was wearing was secure, she began her climb.  In no time at all she found herself at the top, where things were a bit dicier.

“If this kills me,” she muttered as she pulled the quantum-molecular compressor off her back, “I am going to haunt Stark for the rest of his days.”  She had one shot at this, firing the compressor and then catching the newly-shrunken transmitter before it could fall hundreds of meters to the ground, likely alerting German troops to her presence and hopelessly compromising the mission objectives.

She took a deep breath, held it, and pulled the trigger.  There was no light, just a sudden drop in pressure around her that nearly caught her off guard, but she still managed to grab the transmitter in time.

“Sodding hell, I thought this thing was supposed to be lighter!”  The metal spike she held weighed a good three stone, which was going to make climbing down a sight more interesting than planned, and the hike out a great deal more unpleasant.  At the bottom of the flagpole she stowed it into the pouch in the back of her girdle and prepared to rappel down.

“On va voir,” she said with a smile.

* * *

The next morning, the German troops were chagrined to notice that not only had their flag been blown away by the wind, but also that somehow someone had changed a single letter on the banner that hung from the tower.  “ _ Deutschland Liegt auf allen Fronten _ ” was much less inspirational, all things being equal.

**Author's Note:**

> The sign was changed from "Deutschland Siegt auf allen Fronten" or "Germany is victorious on all fronts" to "Deutschland Liegt auf allen Fronten," or "Germans lie on every frontline," and is actually a real thing that happened multiple times during the German occupation of Paris. The giant flag being blown away by the wind is also a real thing that happened, although I like my version better. 
> 
> I'm planning more ficlets in a similar vein, as the inspiration strikes. You're welcome come find me on [tumblr](http://machine-dove.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
